May 13th - Chile!

Here is the first report of the Cafe Davis season!

Cafe Davis officially started last Monday, but I unfortunately contracted some kind of cold/flu/allergy/ickiness and spent all week on the couch. Only one reservation was affected - poor Kendra and Trevor had to reschedule, but I do appreciate their willingness to do so. And a good thing too - a small Mother's Day weekend dinner turned into a dinner party for 9 and the slow cooking requirements of a couple of the dishes meant I had to start cooking a full day in advance. In attendance were your lovable hosts, Mike and me, plus my parents Linda and Jerry, my aunt Wanda and Uncle Dale, cousins Taylor and Kris, and cousin-in-law Jessica - oh, and Kris and Jessica's dog Foxy. As far as I can recall, this was a Cafe Davis first for Wanda, Dale and Taylor, so it was nice to have new people joining us!

The menu for the evening was an exploration of the cuisine of Chile. We had two varieties of Chilean Tomato and Sweet Onion Salad - one slightly spicier than the other; Porotos Granados - a cranberry bean, acorn squash, onion, and corn mixture that was spicy and I think a perfect substitute for run-of-the-mill vegetarian chili; sweet cornbread muffins; Chancho a la Chilena - a slow cooked pork loin (see the picture caption below for more details); Coliflor en Salsa de Almendra - cauliflower with a bechamel-based white almond sauce; and Caballo Chileno Cabernet Sauvignon 2003, a wonderful wine that recently won a silver medal at an international wine competition (which one is escaping me - sorry!).

True to my word, I really tried to get lots of pictures for this first event, and I even have created a small video montage for your enjoyment. I am currently sitting here trying to get a stupid computer program to work so that I can get the HTML codes in order to embed the video in this here blog for your amusement. The video is somewhat humorous - it features a 20 second conversation between my dad and my cousin Kris about the effectiveness of condoms - unfortunately we didn't have the camera rolling when this conversation started with my dad's statement, "Taylor - do you know what chlamydia is?" Poor Taylor - awkward moment for a teenager. I heard that he blushed.

Good times. Just a reminder - if you haven't yet made your reservations, please do so with at least three days in advance. The weekends are really beginning to fill up - we are looking forward to getting the chance to hang out with you all!

Finally! I got the video to work. It's just some takes from our evening together - no real plot to speak of. I hope you enjoy your chance to be a fly on the wall. By the way - the dog barking at the end is Foxy - every time Ursa hears her growl and bark, she gets excited. Just a word of caution if you have canine companions. See you next time!

Free video hosting, video codes at